Roll bending apparatus for rolling mill

Abstract

A roll bending apparatus for use in a multi-stage rolling mill adapted for rolling a hard material or a thin sheet material with a high uniformity of thickness along the breadth, with a high degree of accuracy and low energy. The rolling mill has work rolls of a comparatively small diameter. The amount of bend of the small-diameter work roll is controlled by the roll bending apparatus for attaining the high degree of uniformity of thickness along the breadth of the rolled material. The roll bending apparatus has, for each of said work rolls, a supporting member having a work roll supporting portion for rotatably supporting the work roll and rockable vertically about a fulcrum, and a bending force generating means adapted for engaging the supporting member so as to cause a rocking motion of the supporting member thereby applying a substantially vertical roll bending force to the work roll through the supporting member.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A roll bending apparatus for a multi-stage rolling mill, comprising: a mill frame;   upper and lower parallel axis work rolls rotatably mounted on said frame for rolling sheet material therebetween;   upper andlower vertical support rolls mounted on said frame for rotation about respective axes parallel to said work roll axes for vertically supporting said work rolls;   horizontal support rolls mounted horizontally adjacent at least one of said work rolls for rotation about respective axes parallel to said work roll axes for supporting the respective work roll in one horizontal direction;   a pair of horizontal support arm members respectively mounting opposite axial ends of said support rolls and said one work roll;   pivot means for mounting said support arm members for rocking motion in respective substantially vertical planes about a common fulcrum axis spaced from and parallel to the axis of said one work roll;   each of said support arm members having a work roll support end ortion provided with bearing means for mounting said one work roll on said support arm member for limited horizontal lost motion and vertically fixed coupling; and   bending force generating menas for applying a substantially vertical roll bending force to the ends of said support arm members opposite from said work roll support end portions and on the opposite side of said fulcrum axis from said work rolls, for rotating eachof said support arm members about said fulcrum axis to exert a vertical roll bending force on the opposite ends of sid one work roll.   
     
     
       2. A roll bending apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said bearing means includes a horizontal lost motion coupling and vertically fixed coupling between at least one of said horizontal support rolls and said support arm members. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the support roll furthest removed from said work roll is a segmented roll, and the axes of said support rolls and said one work roll being in a common generally horizontal plane. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein ach of said work rolls has support arm members, horizontal support rolls, mounting means and bending force generatig means that are substantially identical. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein siad bearing means is an elongated U-shaped slot on each of said support arm members opening toward said one work roll for receiving therein the respective shaft ends of said one work roll and said at least one horizontal support roll; stopper detent means biased for resiliently extending radially into each slot of said support arm members between saidone work roll and said support rolls for resiliently resisting horizontal removal of said support rolls without interfering with horizontal removal of said work roll from said slots, such that said one work roll may be horizontally removed from said slots without moving said support arm members and said support rolls may thereafter be horizontally removed from said slots by overcoming the bias of said stopper detent means. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said bearing means of each of said support arm members is provided with a horizontally telescoping non-rotatable coupling between said work roll support end portion and the remainer of the corresponding support arm member for providing said limited lost motion in the horizontal direction for said one work roll. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said work roll support end portion is provided with a horizontally inwardly opening recess and said work roll is provided with rotatable bearing means on each of its ends outwardly slidably and tightly received with said said recess for preventing relative movement therebetween in the vertical direction and the outward horizontal direction. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a support beam slidably carried on sai frame for relative movement in the horizontal direction, said support beam carrying thereon said support arm members, said horizontal support rolls, said one work roll, and said roll bending force generating means; and means actuatable to drive said support beam relative to the frame in the horizontal direction, for horizontally moving said support arm members, horizontal support rolls and one work roll carried thereon an amount to compensate for the offset of the center of the work rolls attributable to changes in diameters of the horizontal support rolls and one work roll thereby preventing a change in the offset of the axis of the work rolls. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising thrust bearing means engaging each axial end of each of said work rolls. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said support arm members includes a support roll support member portion mounted on its respective support arm member for relative horizontal movement in the axial dirction, each support roll support member mounting a respective end of said horizontal support rolls and having a support roll thrust bearing therebetween, spring means resiliently between each support roll support member portion its respective support arm member for resiliently axialy biasing said support roll support member axially toward the adjacent horizontal support rolls to provide a support rolls thrust gap of possible relative axial movement between said support rolls and said support arm member; work roll thrust bearing means for th eopposite end of each of said one work roll providing a thrust axial work roll gap of relative movement betweensaid one work roll and said support arm members; said thrust work roll thrust gap being substantially less than said support rolls thrust gap; said support roll thrust bearing means having a thrust capacity substantially less than said work roll thrust bearing means, and said spring means having a biasing axial force substantaillly less than said support roll thrust bearing force capacity, so that axial thrust on said one work roll, as it increases, will first overcome the bias of said support roll spring means without damaging said support roll thrust bearing means until said thrust axial work roll gap is closed and thereafter be counteracted by said work roll thrust bearing. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said vertical support rolls have their axes in a common vertical plane that is horizontally spaced from the common vertical plane of said work roll axes on the opposite side of said work rolls from said support arm members and support rolls. 
     
     
       12. A roll bending apparatus for a multi-stage rolling mill, comprising: a mill frame;   upper and lower parallel axis work rolls rotatably mounted on said frame for rolling sheet material therebetween;   upper and lower vertical support rolls mounted on said frame for rotation about respective axes parallel to said work roll axes for vertically supporting said work rolls;   horizontal support rolls mounted horizontally adjacent at least one of said work rolls about respective axes parallel to said work roll axes for supporting the respective work roll in one horizontal direction;   a pair of horizontal support arm members respectively mounting opposite axial ends of said support rolls and said one work roll;   pivot means for mounting said support arm members for rocking motion in respective substantially vertical planes about a common fulcrum axis spaced from and parallel to the axis of said one work roll;   each of said support arm members having a work roll support end portion provided with bearing means for mounting said one work roll on said support arm member for limited horizontal motion and vertically fixed coupling; and   bending force generating means for applying a substantailly vertical roll bending force to the ends of said support arm members, for rotating each of said support arm members about said fulcrum axis to exert a vertical roll bending force on the opposite ends of said one work roll;   said bearing means includes a horizontal lost motion coupling and vertically fixed coupling between at least one of said horixontal support rolls and said support arm members; and   said bearing means is an elongated U-shaped slot on each of said support arm members opening toward said one work roll for receiving therein the respective shaft ends of said one work roll and said at least one horizontal support roll; stopper detent means biased for resiliently extending radially into each slot of said support arm members between said one work roll and said support rolls for resiliently resisting horizontal removal of said support rolls without interfering with horizontal removal of said work roll from said slots, such that said one work roll may be horizontally removed from said slots without moving said support arm members and said support rolls may thereafter be horizontally removed from said slots by overcoming the bias of said stopper detent means.   
     
     
       13. A roll bending apparatus for a multi-stage rolling mull, comprising: a mill frame;   upper and lower parallel axis work rolls rotatably mounted on said frame for rolling sheet material therebetween;   upper and lower vertical support rolls mounted on said frame for rotation about respective axes parallel to said work roll axes for vertically supporting said work rolls;   horizontal support rolls mounted horizontally adjacent at least one of said work rolls about respective axes parallel to said work roll axes for supporting the respective work roll in one horizontal direction;   a pair of horizontal support arm members respectively mounting opposite axial ends of said support rolls and said one work roll;   each of said support arm members having a work roll support end portion provided with means for mounting said one work roll on said support arm member;   each of said support arm members includes a support roll support member portion mounted on its respective support arm member for relative horizontal movement in the axial direction, each support roll support member mounting a respective end of said horizontal supports rolls and having a support roll thrust bearing therebetween, spring means resiliently between each support roll support member portion and its support arm member for resiliently axially biasing said support roll support member axially toward the adjacent horizontal support rolls to provide a support rolls thrust gap of posible relative axial movement beteen said support rolls and said support arm member; work roll thrust bearing means for the opposite end of each of said one work roll providing a thrust axial work roll gap of relative movement between said one work roll and said support arm members; said thrust work roll gap being substantially less than said support rolls thrust gap; said support roll thrust bearing means having a thrust capacity substantially less than said work roll thrust bearing means, and said spring means having a biasing axial force substantially less than said support roll thrust bearing force capacity, so that axial thrust on said one work roll, as it increases, will first overcome the bias of said support roll spring means without damaging said support roll thrust bearing means until said thrust axial work roll gap is closed and thereafter be counteracted by said work rol thrust bearing.